Every Day We Fight is a roguelite twist on the XCOM-style turn-based strategy genre that sees players fighting off an alien invasion in a turn-of-the-century fictional European city. Ambitious in its approach, Every Day We Fight certainly does things differently and stands out from similar titles. However, not all these genre changes felt great to this reviewer, and the Early Access title needs more time before approaching full release.
In Every Day We Fight, you play as the Thorns, a small organization resisting an alien invasion that has frozen every other human in time. After a mission gone bad, your squad of three is caught in a time loop, traveling back before the moment of disaster each time your attempt to liberate the city fails.
The game uses this to justify a roguelite progression system. Players begin a “run” like they might in other roguelites, inevitably die against incredible odds, and then return to a neutral location where they can use resources gathered during the attempt to become stronger and try again.
That being said, the only meaningful progression I could glean in my playthrough was character level-ups, which tracked through defeats and weren’t exclusively available at the start of new runs. Weapons are discovered through exploring and are the other main enhancement, but it felt like padded progression where you had to dedicate runs to either completing the story objective or exploring to find new gear for future runs, knowing any deviation would make returning to main objectives more difficult during that run.
Besides the roguelite level design, Every Day We Fight plays similarly to other tactical turn-based games, with XCOM being the easy comparison. When not exploring, characters enter combat encounters that play out as tactical turn-based fights.
What Every Day We Fight really does differently, however, is the inclusion of a first-person aiming mechanic. Rather than the hit-chance system I often criticize the genre for, Every Day We Fight has your shots done in first person, requiring some level of actual aiming. The game also switches up the system by allowing you and enemies to react to attacks and ally actions, increasing the variety of actions (or reactions) done during a combat encounter.
While interesting on paper, I don’t think the first-person system does Every Day We Fight any favors. Rather than being helpful, it creates awkwardness and reliance on positioning, forcing you into positions you wouldn’t take in similar games to ensure you can actually aim at an enemy; line of sight is more important and handled differently than in, say, XCOM because you must physically aim.
Furthermore, enemies reacting to your shots (often by running) means you must be very careful with each shot, which drains action points, and you have to shoot fast before enemies reach cover. Since the computer does not share this same need to aim in the first person, fights can feel a little unfair, especially if you are not able to save action points for a movement reaction; enemies will often walk right up to you and one-shot your characters with a barrage of attacks, especially in some of the game’s smaller combat zones where there isn’t a lot of time to prepare or space to keep between enemies.
The game’s difficulty is designed around its roguelite nature; you aren’t expected to complete the story in one sitting, and attempting to will see you decimated by foes far too powerful for you. Even the more fair encounters can quickly turn when a third or fourth wave of enemies spawns in, chucking a grenade onto two of your characters who do not have the action points to move, causing them to instantly die. This difficulty probably needs to be tweaked, or more meaningful progression added to the game, as it currently just doesn’t feel all that satisfying to go out of your way for a piece of gear or extra levels, knowing you’ll be starting your run over after you get them.
The game’s characters didn’t impress me, be it their lackluster skillset or clunky, awkward dialogue and rushed-feeling interactions. While I loved the comic-book-style art in cutscenes, every character interaction felt rushed or missing context, with dynamics feeling flimsy and drama forced, which felt really out of place.
I didn’t face many bugs during my playthrough, notable for an Early Access title. The only notable one was my first-person animation breaking with one pistol, causing an awkward visual effect.
Pros
- Unique twist on XCOM-style tactics with roguelite structure
- Comic-book art in cutscenes is stylish and well-executed
- Mostly stable performance with few bugs for an Early Access title
Cons
- First-person aiming adds clunkiness and unbalanced difficulty
- Roguelite progression feels shallow and unrewarding
- Character writing and dialogue lack depth
- Exploration vs. mission structure creates frustrating trade-offs
TryHardGuides was provided a Steam code for this PC Review of Every Day We Fight. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page!
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